Highland Baseball Glove Lacing Kit

It was difficult deciding whether to rate the kit with 3 or 4 stars. I finally went with 3 stars since the insert instruction sheet that comes with the product provides a web address for TOFL that is incorrect and when I asked a question on what it should be, I got no answer. Additionally, the OD of the needle is a bit too large, at last for my glove (see below). If those issues had not surfaced, I would have rated the kit with 4 stars because it is a quality needle and rawhide. But there are problems. See my photos. I was re-lacing a vintage 1961 ball glove that my father gave me when I was 9 years old; today I am 69. To say it is worn and well-broken in is an understatement. However, for the amount I throw a ball around today with my grandkids, and because of my connection with that glove and its memories, I don’t want to have to replace it. I recall evenings as a kid, lovingly rubbing it with Rawlings Glovolium (I still have a bit left in the can) and rubber-banding the glove around a hardball for shape, and smacking my balled-up fist into it multiple time to make a pocket I liked. Thwack, thwack, thwack! No way I want to have to buy another. So, when the stitching on the web broke, I bought this repair kit. The instructions are good and I had no trouble cutting the rawhide and getting a tight fit into the needle, but there was one major problem. See photo A of the eyelets. This glove in some places has eyelets to reinforce the holes thru the leather, and in particular on both sides of the web, has two closely spaced eyelets. The needle’s OD is almost exactly the same as the eyelet’s ID so threading it becomes difficult. Furthermore, with the two closely spaced eyelets (photo B) I was forced to lubricate the needle with Glovolium and brace the glove against the partially open jaws of a bench vice while using a hammer to pound the needle through the holes. I was worried I might tear the leather, but it held. My method worked, but later I discovered another approach by adhering the rawhide with superglue to a rectangular cross-section piece of heavy wire that allowed me to pull the rawhide through another set of holes much more easily. I asked TOFL is curved needles are available and apparently, they are not. Anyway, the job is done (photo C) and I am ready for more catch with my grandkids. I haven’t cut the rawhide at the ends of the knots, just waiting to see how the glove plays over the near future.